There are many instances in which it would be desirable to allow a remotely located target program to be executed on a local computer without exposing the target program in question to the threat of indiscriminate copying and propagation. Additionally, time-limiting the execution of the remotely located target program would add additional benefits and control. Some of the areas that could benefit from such a capability are the rental of computer programs over the Internet, try-before-you-buy evaluation of computer programs, and pay-per view of internet-based information sources, among others.
Traditional network file system drivers allow local computer to access remotely-located programs and/or data as if they were local, but also allowed those programs and data to be copied to the local computer, and then be propagated indiscriminately.